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Deuce Dropper wrote:This new habit of tagging everything bad that happens in our life in Taiwan as a 'microaggression' is becoming ridiculous. I realize that guy in Japan wrote a compelling article that many of us can relate to, but I just can't buy into every stupid thing that happens here that I may not particularly like to be some nefarious plan to annoy or intimidate me by the collective masses.

Deuce Dropper wrote:This new habit of tagging everything bad that happens in our life in Taiwan as a 'microaggression' is becoming ridiculous. I realize that guy in Japan wrote a compelling article that many of us can relate to, but I just can't buy into every stupid thing that happens here that I may not particularly like to be some nefarious plan to annoy or intimidate me by the collective masses.

What I find ironic is that it somehow is valid for Asian Americans living in US but not for "whiteys" in Taiwan.

No, I don't give a fuck if it is a Martian complaining about the treatment he received on Pluto, it is whinging's finest hour, and it is most certainly not applicable in the way foreigners are dealt with by Taiwanese.Interpersonal relations with strangers are often hostile, life is often hostile, and the only thing that keeps this hostility muted are the social graces we are taught (and these differ from culture to culture). We are in a hurry, we are in competition, we are looking out for number one, and many of the people we deal with are in the same boat. There will be friction, it is human nature, but what chaps my ass is the fact that we have gotten to a level where we take very benign behaviors and reactions by a very polite (although sometimes overtly direct) society, twist them and repackage them in a manner where we can feel offended. That is self-serving BS.

If someone calls you fat, be offended, if someone says you are ugly, be offended, if someone says you are good with chopsticks or speak good Chinese, smile and go on with your day.

Deuce Dropper wrote:If someone calls you fat, be offended, if someone says you are ugly, be offended, if someone says you are good with chopsticks or speak good Chinese, smile and go on with your day.

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

+1.

You can live here and have a great life and not be the least bit into living the local life. Clowns will try to diss you for it saying you gotta get down with the program, but fuck em, treat this place like a buffet and yous be on a diet. Take what you want and nothing extra, slam those oysters, but leave the bread sticks and dinner rolls behind. - Deuce Dropper

I'm much more of a nasty rotter in real life, especially with vapid or vacuous verbiage from the ill read & intellectually challenged. - TheGingerMan

Don't be a cheap cunt. - Deuce Dropper

People are stupid everywhere, but there's something childlike and adorable about Taiwanese stupidity. - rowland

I've come to the conclusion that "microaggression" bothers some people, and doesn't bother other people.

"God made man But he used the monkey to do it Apes in the plan We're all here to prove it I can walk like an ape Talk like an ape I can do what a monkey can do God made man But a monkey supplied the glue"

Tempo Gain wrote:I've come to the conclusion that "microaggression" bothers some people, and doesn't bother other people.

That's such an aggressive thing to say! Shame on you!

Now you've made me angry with your chabudouness! I've lost face! I challenge you to a duel at dawn with tea eggs!

You can live here and have a great life and not be the least bit into living the local life. Clowns will try to diss you for it saying you gotta get down with the program, but fuck em, treat this place like a buffet and yous be on a diet. Take what you want and nothing extra, slam those oysters, but leave the bread sticks and dinner rolls behind. - Deuce Dropper

I'm much more of a nasty rotter in real life, especially with vapid or vacuous verbiage from the ill read & intellectually challenged. - TheGingerMan

Don't be a cheap cunt. - Deuce Dropper

People are stupid everywhere, but there's something childlike and adorable about Taiwanese stupidity. - rowland

"God made man But he used the monkey to do it Apes in the plan We're all here to prove it I can walk like an ape Talk like an ape I can do what a monkey can do God made man But a monkey supplied the glue"

Deuce Dropper wrote:This new habit of tagging everything bad that happens in our life in Taiwan as a 'microaggression' is becoming ridiculous. I realize that guy in Japan wrote a compelling article that many of us can relate to, but I just can't buy into every stupid thing that happens here that I may not particularly like to be some nefarious plan to annoy or intimidate me by the collective masses.

What I find ironic is that it somehow is valid for Asian Americans living in US but not for "whiteys" in Taiwan.

No, I don't give a fuck if it is a Martian complaining about the treatment he received on Pluto, it is whinging's finest hour, and it is most certainly not applicable in the way foreigners are dealt with by Taiwanese.Interpersonal relations with strangers are often hostile, life is often hostile, and the only thing that keeps this hostility muted are the social graces we are taught (and these differ from culture to culture). We are in a hurry, we are in competition, we are looking out for number one, and many of the people we deal with are in the same boat. There will be friction, it is human nature, but what chaps my ass is the fact that we have gotten to a level where we take very benign behaviors and reactions by a very polite (although sometimes overtly direct) society, twist them and repackage them in a manner where we can feel offended. That is self-serving BS.

If someone calls you fat, be offended, if someone says you are ugly, be offended, if someone says you are good with chopsticks or speak good Chinese, smile and go on with your day.

Yes, indeed!

"Turne ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee:"~~~ZECHARIAH 9:12

pb wrote:What I find ironic is that it somehow is valid for Asian Americans living in US but not for "whiteys" in Taiwan.

Maybe because this 'microaggression' theory was developed in the context of multicultural U.S. society, with all its baggage of racial oppression, segregation, etc. Applying it to the largely 'monoracial' societies of Taiwan or Japan is misguided. Taiwan is something like 98% Han Chinese folks, so yes, whitey does stick out like a sore thumb, and there is no way you can realistically expect to integrate here like an immigrant or racial minority in North America. Your foreignness will always be the #1 thing people notice about you, and you will get approached by curious and (thankfully) friendly people because, guess what, they don't see your kind around these parts too often pardner.

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